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A proposal that would have altered the Division III football preseason to permanently implement important health and safety recommendations was defeated at the 2018 NCAA Convention, prompting the division’s members and governing bodies to explore the issue and emerge with a new proposal.

Darious Williams was loading flowers into a truck two years ago. Let that sink in for a moment. Then, consider the season the senior just had in closing out the remarkable rebirth of football at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

After this past fall’s events in Stillwater, Oklahoma, Kevin Trainor can’t help but find himself drawn to a university, an athletics program and a family hurting from yet another incomprehensible tragedy.

Growing up in rural South Carolina, sports were always an integral part of my life. This inclination followed me into my days as a young man, when I dreamed of one day becoming an NBA player and emulating Jo Jo White of the Boston Celtics. Then, I met Dr. Elizabeth Bethel.

The football program’s black athletes felt it was time to take a stand. They were upset about discriminatory treatment and threatened to boycott. Their voices were joined by others on campus, amplifying the protest. Soon, sweeping changes came to the university, improving staff diversity and promoting inclusive values.

Each year our athletes are challenged to run faster and jump higher. The physical demands required of them continue to escalate. The need for a person who is certified in the proper exercises to attain these goals while ensuring safety and preventing injuries is vital.

There’s a good chance you never considered painkiller use to be an epidemic, but there is another side to their use: the easy introduction to their potent high through initial prescriptions; ready access to more pills through black markets; and eventually, a pathway to dangerous street drugs.